Animal welfare considered in trade and economic relations with the United States for the first time

24 October 2012

The Transatlantic Animal Welfare Council (TAWC) welcomes the European Parliament’s adoption of its report on Trade and Economic Relations with the United States. Crucially, and for the first time the European Parliament includes a mention of “animal protection standards;” a significant step forward.

The TAWC also welcomes the comments made before the vote by the European Commissioner for Development, Andris Piebalgs, made on behalf of the European Commission where he stated that; “Your report comes very timely indeed, it constitutes a balance and a constructive contribution to the work of the High Level Working Group and we will take into account the views and position you expressed to the greatest possible extent”.

“The European Parliament and in particular its International Trade Committee must be thanked for their hard work in ensuring that the views of European Citizens have been listened to and acted upon,” commented Cindy Milburn, Chair of the TAWC.

The TAWC will continue to contribute to the discussions on trade and economic relations with the United States, including the call “for input on regulatory issues for possible trade negotiations[1],[2]” launched by the European Commission.

This Report, whilst recognising the divergent approaches the EU and US have to trade, will go a long way towards preventing any downward harmonisation of European and US standards should the EU and the US decide to launch trade negotiations in the future.


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[1] http://trade.ec.europa.eu/doclib/press/index.cfm?id=830
[2] http://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/omb/oira/irc/eu-us-joint-solicitation-09072012.pdf

Source: Eurogroup for Animals
Author: Contact: Martyn Griffiths, e-mail: m.griffiths@eurogroupforanimals.org

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